Govt helped almost 100,000 settle legal disputes over debt in 8 months
The Justice Ministry has helped nearly 100,000 people settle legal disputes regarding debt repayments in eight months of 2022, saving them legal expenses of nearly 7 billion baht.
Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on Wednesday that the ministry had organised 78 debt settlement fairs so far this year in several provinces, in line with government policy that 2022 would be a year for fixing household debt problems.
During the fairs, creditors and debtors were invited to settle disputes in front of ministry mediators, who helped them reach terms acceptable to both parties.
In the eight months of 2022, precisely 92,531 people successfully settled their debts amounting to 22.28 billion baht.
“The ministry’s efforts have saved people from paying legal expenses of 6.95 billion baht had the cases been taken to court,” said Somsak.
So far this year the ministry had also disbursed 382 million baht to 7,540 crime victims under the Damages for Injured Persons and Compensation and Expenses for the Accused in Criminal Cases Act, and disbursed 310 million baht under the Justice Fund Act to pay for legal consultation for 2,458 people who could not afford such fees during trial, he said.
The ministry is also pushing for an amendment of a law to prevent recidivism, especially for serious or sexual offences, the minister said.
One of the planned measures is to use electronic monitoring bracelets for up to 10 years.
“This is also a year in which the ministry has taken concrete action against drug sellers, with total assets seized from suspects exceeding 10 billion baht so far, much higher than the average of 600 million baht annually in past years,” Somsak added.
